New Post - finally

My life has been so busy lately trying to keep this blog updated has been hard!  Norah is finally getting back on her schedule from New Jersey.  Although, I think tomorrow night's big lock-in at Metro might send us back again!  =(  She still has not cut any teeth.  She has been acting like it for a week now!  I know, I know, all you Mom's out there are laughing at me.  But come on, the poor child needs a break!  

Norah has found her favorite food...GREEN BEANS!  She eats them like crazy and she doesn't get it everywhere.  She makes sure every last spoonful gets into her mouth!  She is so cute I should get a video.  With every bite she gets a big smile, the food goes in, and she makes a "Mmmm" noise the entire bite!  She sure makes those mushed up green beans look yummy.  =)

Until I get that video recorded and posted - who knows how long that could be!  Here is a video of her opening up her big present from Nonna and Papa.  She LOVES this toy and so do Seth and I - it can keep her entertained for 45 minutes!  

From Norah...Great Grandpa and Grandma Jill, thank you so much for my clothes and toys.  I love them so much!  I'll take pictures soon with my new outfits, as soon as it gets cold here in Florida!  =)

Christmas Pictures

I had WAY to many pictures to post on my blog. If you would like to view them click here.

If you want to see even more family pictures go to my Mom's Blog or Bristol's Blog.

What a memory we made! Now back to cleaning up the aftermath of Christmas!! =)

Merry Christmas!!

A very big MERRY CHRISTMAS to all our friends and family. It is a very warm (79) day, but beautiful weather. We have had such a blast this morning with Norah!! I'll post pictures soon...

Norah Crawls - sort of

Day After Thanksgiving Shopping & More

Still Recovering...

Well, I am 3 days post teeth extraction.  My face is swollen, as to be expected, and I am in pain.  I stopped taking the heavy pain killers today so I can start to come back to earth.  Everything went great - Norah is back to nursing - I just can't talk to her or smile yet.  She does seem to think I look pretty funny and laughs at me.  I don't think she ever knew we switched things up on her for the 24 hours after my surgery.  =)  Thank you all for praying...Now if I can just eat a salad...ah, I have been craving one!

So much happening....

Well, Norah is going crazy over food. I knew she would with the Daddy she has! =) So far I have made her carrots, sweet potato's, peas, bananas and applesauce. The only thing she didn't seem to like was the bananas. I have been making all of my own baby food to this point, except the apple sauce. I just cannot seem to get over the $.50 for a little bottle of baby food that I can make so quickly and for so much cheaper! It has been fun thus far...we will see how long it continues.

Tomorrow I am getting my wisdom teeth taken out - I only have 2.5 so I guess you can say I am lucky. I have been pretty nervous about the whole thing. Mostly the recovery. I'll keep you posted. Norah will be going to formula for a few days. We'll see how she likes that and if I can continue to breast feed after I recover.

I would greatly appreciate yours prayers for my surgery and for Norah adjusting to all the changes that will take place the next week. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving...I have many cute pictures to post soon. Maybe while I am recovering in bed I'll have time. =)

Norah Ate Carrots!

Yummy

Norah

Disney World!

We had the chance to take Norah to Disney World on Sunday!  This was her very first time getting the magical experience.  She did SO GOOD.  We left after church, ran and got fast food, and headed to the parks.  We started at MGM where we all immediately headed over to Tower of Terror.  We did the baby swap thing so I could ride.  I must admit, my sense of adventure has left me since having Norah.  I really did not enjoy the feeling of falling.  In the past I would have loved those sorts of things.  =)  Oh well, she is well worth it.  We went over to Animal Kingdom for awhile - didn't see any animals.  And then ended the day back at MGM where I took Norah to see the crazy Christmas lights.  I think that was the best part of the entire day.  She looked around with such wonder as the lights turned on in off in sync with Christmas music.  And it even started snowing!!  Yup, there was snow falling from the skies.  Disney is such a magical place.

Thank you Noelle and George for letting us crash your family day and join you!  We had such a good time and made great memories.  Noelle, I need you to send me the pictures so I can post them!!  (I forgot the memory card in our camera!  Noelle took pictures for me).

Well, I have a consultation this morning to get my wisdom teeth taken out next week!  Please keep me in your prayers because I will have to stop nursing Norah until I can go without pain killers.  I'll let you know more later!  

More pictures of Norah

Norah's first taste of food

Norah started eating rice cereal last week. We figured it was time to give her a taste of food when she would follow your every bite from the plate into your mouth. She would even sit there are mimic you chewing! I have to try and get the video posted of her first bite - it was priceless. She had a huge sigh followed by the biggest smile! SHE LOVES FOOD! She definitely has the Lytle love of food, although I must say rice cereal tastes like cardboard. Her taste buds are still young and inexperienced! =)

Today marks her 5 month birthday, or whatever it is called! I cannot believe she is getting SO BIG! Her newest habit, shall we say, is screaming until she just about loses her voice. Usually it is whenever we put her down for a nap or bedtime, although she has done it a few times when she isn't getting attention. She started this lovely thing at dinner with friends the other night - we had to leave because she was such a mess! I thought it was a fluke, but it has seemed to stick around for the past 3 days. Let the parenting begin - oh boy! =)

New Pictures

Update

It has been so long since I updated this blog!  Life has been going in all sorts of directions.  Here are some bullets of things that have happened recently in the Lytle household.  I will post pictures as soon as I find my camera...

*Papa Jim and Nonna Susan came down for Norah's dedication

*Norah was dedicated to the Lord

*Doodle Bug got another set of shots, but Daddy came this time! 

*Norah started eating rice cereal!  She loves it and I have the cutest video of her first bite!

*Emily is PREGNANT...so cool.

*Robby and Courtney had their baby - little Audrey~!

*I am decorating for Christmas already - my favorite season!  I know I am crazy!!  =)

*Chris and Amy had their baby - sweet Peyton!!

*My last week of teaching P.E. classes are next week - then I have off until January.

That is all for now.  I will try to expand more soon!  LOVE YOU ALL!!  Kisses and Hugs!

Norah got her ears pierced!

We took Norah on Saturday night to the mall to get her ears pierced.  She did such a great job.  She was very still and happy until they actually pierced her ears.  She held her breath and then let out a SCREAM.  There was a line of about 3 girls waiting to get their ears pierced and Norah's cries cleared them out!!  She was fine about 2 minutes later and fell asleep for a couple of hours.  They are so cute, but she looks so grown up now.  =(  Can you believe she is already 4 1/2 months old...yikes!

I have a question....

So I have no idea when you are supposed to start changing your babies routine.  For example, I have heard at some point you change their feeding frequency from every 3 hours to every 4.  I've heard you start giving them rice cereal at night before bed so they will sleep through the night.  I've heard they should be sleeping at least 9 to 10 hours at night by 3 months...yeah right!

I've heard so many things and all of them have different answers.  I thought I would ask you guys what you did and see if I can get a clearer picture for what I should be doing!  =)  Here I go...

1.  What age did you change the feeding frequency from 3 to 4 hours?  And how in the world did you do that?

2.  What age did you start supplementing with rice cereal?  How often and how much?

3.  What age did your baby finally learn that sleeping through the night was a good thing?  =)

Thank you in advance for helping me out here.  I feel so lost sometimes with not knowing what I should be doing, when I should be changing things, and all that good stuff.  Although, Norah is healthy and happy so I guess I am doing things right.  =)

Have an awesome weekend!

Completed, I think!

Well, I am taking a break for now on the updates. It was taking a lot longer than I anticipated. Seth helped me out with the banner, my proportions were way off. Thanks babe! Enjoy the new stuff...

Nothing new is going on in our home right now. Just the same old - work, Norah, Seth, cleaning, Bauer, cleaning, sometimes grocery shopping and cooking, more Norah and Seth...the list goes in a never ending circle! =)

Under Construction

I am currently working on giving my blog a facelift.  I am sorry if things are missing, look ridiculous or confusing!  I will be finished shortly...

Oh, I know that picture of Norah is gigantic!  I am working on resizing it!

-Tracy

Norah and Sophie's Playday

Rollie Pollie

My little Norah is such a little rollie pollie these days.  Last night during our picnic she decided to roll over from her back to her front and then again over to her back!  She was having fun rolling all over the blanket!  =)  She is getting so big and turing into such a little person.  She hasn't laughed anymore at us - but we are sure trying EVERYTHING to hear a few more giggles.

Pictures Pictures

Could I love her any more?

I know I haven't posted in FOREVER!  It seems life is flying by so quickly.  Can you believe Norah is already 4 months old?!  I have so many things to post about I just don't do it!  =)  Do you know the feeling?  

Last night was a very special night.  I was giving Norah a bath and singing her "bath song".  Which is the song from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, "You're my little choochy face..."  Anyways, a very silly and embarrassing song if anyone is remotely close =)  As I was singing she start laughing so hard.  It caught me off guard!  She has never laughed at us, only Bauer.  So I kept singing it and she kept laughing.  It didn't last long, but what I heard was the sweetest thing in the whole wide world!!  Ah, I am in LOVE!  =)

Norah noticed Bauer...

We were outside playing catch with Bauer and Norah started belly laughing!!  Every time I would kick the ball up in the air Bauer would jump or do a flip - Norah thought this was so funny.  Wouldn't you know it.  =)  I have been trying so many things to make her laugh and nothing has worked.  All it took was a crazy, hyper dog doing flips.  I will try to get video later...it is adorable.

Norah Quotes Scripture

She is getting so big...

Last week was a week of firsts!  When we were in Atlanta she was sitting on my lap and we were talking.  All of a sudden she let out such a huge burp!  She had a surprised look on her face and she got the biggest smile.  She then blurted out a laugh that sounded like a toddler!!  Seth and I both looked at her and started laughing - which made her laugh even more.  It is so much fun trying to get her to laugh.  She has the most adorable laugh I have ever heard!

She also is ROLLING OVER!  I couldn't believe it.  She is still so tiny it looks funny to see her hold her head up while on her tummy and then role over to her back.  I am trying to get used to her being so mobile now.  I still have a few more months until I have to "baby proof" my house.  I will enjoy the last few days of a clean, well decorated house.  I know in the years to come my house will be decorated from about only waste high and up!  =) 

Time to get her into bed.  We are working on a 7:30pm bedtime!  Good luck to me!

Touchdown!

We had the chance to go to the Georgia Tech game on Saturday.  We had a blast!!  Seth wanted Norah to have the proper attire so we went shopping all over on Saturday morning.  We couldn't find anything "girly" but we did find the cutest little jersey.  It was a little big, but it did the job.  She did get a lot of "oh what a cute boy"... =)  We only stayed until half-time, which was about all Norah could handle.  They won 49-14!!  We are heading home this morning around 1am.  We did this on the way up and it was the best.  Norah slept the whole time.  Hopefully we will be as lucky on the way home.  I will post more pictures from the trip later.  GO TECH!

We made it to Atlanta

Celebration South

Well, we are home from our very first Celebration married plus a child.  Things were definitely very different going and having a baby to take care of.  There wasn't much playing sports or participating in activities happening on my end.  However, we did make it out to the pool one day for about 30 minutes until it started to thunder.  I also played about half of a game of scrabble - but then I had to leave to feed Norah.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  It was an absolute blast.  The worship was incredible and the messages, what I did hear, were outstanding.  I will have to listen to them again because I never got through an entire message without having to excuse myself to go attend to Norah.

I am trying to get all the laundry accomplished so I can re-pack my suitcases and head off to Atlanta on Thursday.  Call me crazy - but I am loving it!  Norah was excited to come home to all of her toys.  I was excited to come home to my bed!  =)

I didn't get any pictures from Celebration.  I have lost my camera.  =(  I am sure it is around in this messy house somewhere.  Hopefully I will find it before Thursday.  Check out my Mom's blog for a couple pictures of Norah at Celebration.

Norah's big girl toy

I figured it was time to put Norah in her new toy!  She really, really enjoyed it.  She couldn't reach out and touch anything, but she loved looking at all the colorful toys.  I stacked some books underneath so her feet could touch.  I almost got a giggle out of her because she got so excited.  She is growing up so fast.  I cannot believe she is almost 3 months old!!  Well, I need to go and pack for Celebration South.  =)

Our first beach trip

Here are a few pictures from our very first trip to the beach with Norah.  She did such a great job.  I couldn't have asked for a better time the past couple of days.  Now we are home and she is all cleaned up and sleeping on the bed.  I need to run and try to catch up on some laundry before she wakes!  Enjoy the slide show!  Oh, and thank you Seth for an amazing mini-vacation to the beach.  You are the bestest.

I love my Husband

I just have to say to the whole world how much I love my Husband. He is the bestest ever. He told me today that he is taking me and Norah to the beach tomorrow to spend the night! The hotel is amazing - I can't wait to go into the pool. I think Norah will really enjoy the beach (or at least she better!). It will be her first time going to the beach. Now I know it is unbelievably hot these days. So no worries, I will keep a close eye on her temperature. Our room is facing the ocean and even has its own kitchen so we can cook. Although I think we are going to order pizza - my favorite thing to do when I have a room at the beach. =) Seth told me he is doing this because he wanted to do something nice for me. This is coming the day after he babysat Norah for the first time all by himself. He said he realized how much work it is so he wanted to bless me. Seth, you are amazing! I am so madly, deeply in love with you man! THANKS!

On your mark, get set...GO!!!

Norah is gearing up for her very first road trip!  I am also gearing up for I know this will be a challenge for us.  She hasn't liked car rides too much, but we are praying this one will be the exception.  We have been planning this particular "surprise" trip for some time now.  She will be a little over 3 months old when we venture up to Atlanta, GA to celebrate Grandparents Day with her Nonna and Papa, the weekend of September 9th.  We were trying to keep it a complete secret and just show up on the door step - however, Norah was so excited she just had to tell someone.  As you can see in the picture above she is set to hit the road already!  She has to wait a few more weeks, but I am sure the wait will be well worth it.  

NOTE TO NONNA:

Seth says that he is sorry he had to pretend we weren't going to come until Thanksgiving.  SURPRISE!!!  We even have a few more surprises for Nonna up our sleeves...Now I just need to try and keep Norah from talking us into telling the world...=)

9 wks & 9 lbs

This past Tuesday Norah had her 2 month check up with her Doctor.  She also had to get her first set of shots (4) plus a vaccine by mouth.  Norah was a tough cookie.  She was laying on the table so happy, dancing and talking - then the nurse came in and started to give her the shots.  Her little lip pushed out and then she began to scream.  I had prepared myself to cry, and I did.  =)  Seth was unable to come with me due to a very important meeting at work.  However, being the amazing Father he is, he called my cellphone and left Norah a message to listen to after she had her shots.  As I was putting her in the car and buckling her in (she is still terrified and screaming) I called my voicemail, put it on speakerphone and turned up the volume.  It only took a few seconds before she heard Seth's voice and literally within a matter of 5 seconds she was completely calm.  No more crying.  She didn't move a muscle.  She sat there and listened intently to Seth's voice...I even got a small smile from her!  =)  I must have played that message 10 times for her on the way home.  She eventually fell asleep listening to him comfort her over the phone.  She did get a small fever and had a few crying sessions later that night.  A little Tylenol and some comfort and she was good to go!  Overall, I am very impressed with Norah (and myself) for handling her first set of shots so bravely.  

Check out her growth!

Weight:  9lbs 9oz - 25th percentile (some babies are born at this!  YIKES!)

Height:   22 1/2"  - 50th percentile (an inch shorter than my Dad at birth!)

Head:      14 1/4"   - 20th percentile (small, but still very smart!)

Contest Results FINALLY

Okay, okay.  I know you have all been waiting forever to see who won the "Norah's Coming Contest" right!?  Here are the winning results...

Norah's Birthday:  

Actual - June 13th

Guess - June 13th, Susan Wilcox!

Birth Time:

Actual - 3:32am

Guess - 11:54pm, Heather Walter beat Aunt Debbie by 2 minutes!

Birth Weight:

Actual: 6lbs 1oz

Guess: 6lbs 6 oz, Seth Lytle (actually my midwife, Katie, got it exactly right!)

Length:

Actual:  18.5"

Guess:  18.5"  Seth Lytle again!  Go Daddy!  =)

Hair or no hair:

Actual:   Dark brown Benjamin Franklin hair!  Long around the bottom and fuzz on top.  =)

Guess:    Pretty much everyone got this one right with the exception of a few.  

Will Seth pass out:

Actual:  Seth was calm and collective.  He was an amazing coach - with the exception of a few very RANDOM questions in the middle of pushing - he did great!  =)

Guess:    Everyone gets a point for this one! So give yourselves a pat on the back!

Thank you to all who participated!   If I forgot to post your answer and you think you won in a category and you want your name listed on here...Get over it!  =)  Until next time... a very, very long next time...

Swimming Fun at Nana's

We went to Nana's house today and went swimming with Aunt Ashley and Bristol. We had so much fun and the girls loved the water! Definitely little Florida girls.

To all Moms out there:

Have you ever had one of these moments...

Last night I was holding me 8 week old little girl upright, overlooking my shoulder.  I was foolishly holding her with one hand place on her bottom and lower back.  She had being doing a really good job lately of holding her head up and looking around, so I thought nothing of it. We were doing great!  Until she decided that she was going to force her body backwards with all her might.  She did this so quickly and with so much strength I almost dropped her!  Thankfully I was able to catch her before she went completely upside down.  I felt a 'crack' and I immediately held her close and waited for the screaming.  It took a few moments of shock before reality sunk in...then the worst sound I have ever heard in my life...she started screaming and I mean a horrific scream of pain.  I was freaking out thinking I had broken her, snapped her neck, paralyzed her.  I had the worst feeling deep down knowing that those screams of pain were because of me, her Mom.  Seth came over and took her from me because I was an emotional wreck.  How could I have let this happen, what if I would have dropped her.  So many "what ifs" were flying through my head.  We carefully checked her over and made sure nothing was out of place.  Everything seemed fine, just a little sore.   Seth comforted her (and me) and she soon fell asleep - forgetting what had happened to her only a few short moments before.  She was okay.  I on the other hand was still dealing with the emotion of what happened.  I don't know if I will ever forget this moment.  It definitely made me realize how quickly your life can change.   I thank God today for our health and keeping us from a tragedy last night.  I am sure this has happened to all Mom's at some point in their life in one way or another.  And I know this most likely will not be last time I do something on accident that causes pain to my children.  I just pray it doesn't happen again anytime in the near future.  Oh, and that picture was not taken last night.  =)

8 Weeks Today

I cannot believe that my little doodle bug is already 2 whole months old!  Time is going by so quickly.  I have enjoyed being a Mom SO much.  I think Norah likes being a daughter too!  =)

She has started eating a lot more frequently the past couple of days.  I think she is going through a growth spurt.  I feel like all I have been doing is feeding Norah, changing her diaper, and then a possible burp and a quick 10 minute cat nap (just enough time for me to run to the bathroom and grab a drink) and she is up again ready for another dinner!  I am sure all Moms have experienced this.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining.  I love every minute as I sit and feed her.  She is SO PRECIOUS!  It just can be a little draining and sometimes, I admit, I feel like a human bottle.  =)

My Dad took Norah on the scale with him the other day and it said she weighs a whopping 9.5 pounds!  I am so proud of my little chunker.  We go to her 2 month check up a week from today.  I am looking forward to seeing her progress.  However, I am not looking forward to all those shots.  =(  Daddy is going to have to come to hold Nor...No, Mommy.  =)

Photo Shoot!

SHE SMILED!

To some this may seem silly, but to us it was such a huge event.  Last night when Seth came home from work he came up and gave me a kiss and then Norah a kiss as usual.  However, when he started to talk Norah got the BIGGEST smile on her face.  We weren't sure if she knew what she was doing so Seth said, "hi Norah" a few more times.  Each time she gave him a big smile and her little nose wrinkles!  Of course, I ran inside and grabbed the camera.  I got a brief video of her smiling and then snapped this picture.  She is such a Daddy's little girl already.  What a special moment it was for us!  She is growing up so fast!  It is hard to believe she is already 7 weeks and 2 days old!  I thank God for every day we have had with her.  She is a joy!

Training Day Begins

In 286 days, May 11th, I will be participating in my very first triathlon at Disney World.  A few teachers at my school asked me to join with them to run for a Mom at the school who passed away from breast cancer last year.  I have always wanted to do something like this, but never had enough discipline to train for one.   There are 5 of my friends doing it so far and we will all hold each other accountable each week.

I have been learning a lot this year about discipline and accountability.  I have never been very good with disciplining my life in the area of working out - actually, I am not good with discipline in most areas honestly!  The biggest challenge that I had set for myself this year was to read through the Bible in a year.  I have found this takes A TON of discipline, accountability and time management.  I should be halfway through the Bible, however, due to my lack in this area I am behind.  This makes me sick.  It should not be such a "chore" to want to read my Bible every day.  And another thing that is baffling to me...I have been a Christian pretty much my whole life.  I confess that I love the Lord with all my heart, however, I have NEVER read the entire Bible.  In fact, there are books, not just chapters, but books that I have never read!  That is just unacceptable.  

I know it might sound absurd to take on yet another challenge when I cannot even manage what I have now.  I have faith that I will be able to conquer the horrible character trait and turn into a disciplined woman. =) I need lots of work! "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"  I not only want to learn to be disciplined with working out, but I also want to become more disciplined in my devotion life.  

So, I ask all of you who read this blog to please hold me accountable.  Ask me if I have been reading my Bible, and please get specific and ask "every" day.  You could even go the extra step and ask what I learned from my reading! =)   And now with my new endeavor, my goal is to work out 2 times per week.  As you can see I am putting a lot on my plate.  I like a challenge and I know I can beat this yucky undisciplined lifestyle I have been living out for the past 10 or so years.  My new motto "BRING IT ON"  =)

Sleepy Head

Norah has so many adorable pictures of her sleeping I just had to do a slide show so you can see!  There are a few old ones that you probably have seen already, but keep watching, there are some really cute new ones.  One of my favorites is of her sleeping on Seth's side...

A tribute to DiPaolo wine!

Thank you guys so much!

Thank you Nana and Nonna!

THANK YOU NANA AND NONNA!  This is a post to thank our Mom's for coming and providing our new family with TONS of help after the arrival of little Norah.   We are so blessed to have such amazing and caring families!  Our Mothers so graciously took the time out of their schedules to come and help us with the not so fun task of cleaning, cooking and caring for our needs as first time parents.  Not to mention the grueling task of staring, hugging and kissing Norah.  Oh and don't forget all those dirty diapers!  =)

Nana (Debi Walter) arrived the day we came home from the hospital and stayed for 1 week.  And then Nonna (Susan Lytle) traveled from Atlanta, GA exactly 1 week after Norah was born and stayed for almost 2 weeks.  Our Mom's were such a tremendous help!  They truly were servants as they attended to our needs.  They went over and above what we anticipated or even expected.  It was wonderful to have a constant resource to answer any questions we had regarding Norah...  "Is this supposed to look like that?" or "How long can she possibly sleep without eating!"  I know we made some lasting memories during their stay with us here in Sanford, FL.  We took several pictures so we can show Norah when she gets older.  We want her and everyone else to know what a blessing her Nana and Nonna were to her parents when she was born.

Thank you Mom for giving up your time and even money to help us start our new lives as parents.  We pray we can demonstrate the same love and servanthood to our own children!  Your examples are worth praising!  THANK YOU!